There was a delicious heatwave in London over the past couple of weeks which naturally was replaced by a damp summer drizzle by the time the Jubilee rolled around this past weekend. Heat used to mean that sweaty Londoners had to queue up to Mr Whippy vans famous for serving their 99s (soft-serve with a chocolate flake stuck in the top) with a dollop of exhaust fumes on the side to quench their ice-cream thirst but, alas, that is no longer the case. See, our prayers for proper ice-cream parlors have been heard and they are now popping up left, right and center across town. Some of the newcomers are better than others (obviously) but our absolute favorite at the moment is also the very latest: 3Bis, which opened up shop in an old tearoom at Borough Market just the other week.

3Bis is a proper Italian gelateria — a London outpost of a family business based in Rimini — but it uses British produce (a lot of which has been sourced round the famous food market itself, with yoghurt from Neal’s Yard Dairy and berries from Chegworth Valley) and the café only became a reality after owners Francesco and Paolo tracked down the finest cow’s milk in the country that gives the gelato its perfect texture. And perfect it is: the lemon gelato is the best we’ve had since we spent a week on the Amalfi coast; the cones are crunchy and watertight (extra important during a heatwave when every last drop counts), and the staff are nice, knowledgeable and, most importantly fast enough for the through-the-door-and-round-the-corner-queue to be worth the wait. We only have one complaint, really, and that’s that there’s no liquorice-flavored gelato on the menu. Yet. But never mind: we’ll sure keep up the habit even when the sun disappears behind the clouds. Park St., London SE1 Gelateria3bis.it